Mines of Spain State Recreation Area and E. B. Lyons Nature Center
Check pricesA state recreation area on Dubuque's southern edge with limestone bluffs, trails, lead-mining history, and a nature interpretive center.

Photo: Pud00, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Eastern Iowa state park with Mississippi River overlooks, trails, a butterfly garden, and camping at its Dyas Unit.
21466 429th Ave, Bellevue, IA 52031 · Bellevue, IA
Bellevue State Park in eastern Iowa is split into two areas, the Nelson Unit and the Dyas Unit. Visitors can walk trails with river views and restored prairie, visit a butterfly garden where many butterfly kinds appear through the warm months, and see a primitive lime kiln along the Quarry Trail. The Dyas Unit offers camping, including electric and non-electric sites, with reservations required. Shelters in both units can be reserved for picnics and gatherings, and hunting is allowed on nearby public land outside park boundaries.
The closest stops to Bellevue State Park, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
A state recreation area on Dubuque's southern edge with limestone bluffs, trails, lead-mining history, and a nature interpretive center.
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Hike six miles of trails linking about 13 caves, a 50-foot natural bridge and a 17-ton balanced rock.
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Watch sturgeon, river otters and rays in more than a dozen aquariums, then see a historic Mississippi River steamboat dredge.
Transit: reachable by public transit
21 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
Ride a tiny funicular cable car 189 feet up the bluff for views of downtown Dubuque, the Mississippi and three states.
Transit: reachable by public transit
21 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
An art museum in downtown Dubuque known for its Grant Wood holdings and a collection of more than 2,500 works.
Transit: reachable by public transit
21 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
A 164-acre city park on a Mississippi River bluff with views across three states and Lock and Dam No. 11.
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